Phylogeographic patterns of Cyphocharax from trans‐Andean rivers and northward expansion to lower Central America (Teleostei, Curimatidae).

Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear data of 31 specimens of Cyphocharax from trans‐Andean rivers support the presence of one lineage of Cyphocharax aspilos in Lago Maracaibo and three cryptic lineages of Cyphocharax magdalenae: (1) Cauca‐Magdalena and Ranchería, (2) León and Atrato, and (3) Chucunaque‐Tuira, Santa María, and Chiriquí basins of Central America. Results suggest that the Serranía del Perijá facilitated Late Miocene cladogenetic events, whereas post‐Isthmian C. magdalenae expansion was enabled by gene flow across the lower Magdalena valley and Central American lowlands. Time‐calibrated phylogenetics indicate that the C. magdalenae colonized lower Central America in the Pliocene (3.7 MYA; Ma), the divergence Atrato‐Magdalena occurred in Late Pliocene (3.0 Ma) and the split Ranchería‐Magdalena during the Middle Pleistocene (1.3 Ma). Updated geographic distribution data support the hypothesis that the Cordillera de Talamanca functions as a barrier to northward expansion of C. magdalenae in Central America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]